Silver nanoparticles embedded over mesoporous organic polymer as highly efficient and reusable nanocatalyst for the reduction of nitroarenes and aerobic oxidative esterification of alcohols

•First synthesis of silver nanoparticles embedded in mesoporous poly-triallylamine (Ag-MPTA-1).•Ag-MPTA-1 nanocatalyst showed excellent catalytic activity in the reduction of nitrobenzenes via transfer hydrogenation.•Ag-MPTA-1 also showed very good activity in the aerobic oxidative esterification of alcohols in the presence of O2.•The Ag-MPTA-1 nanocatalyst has been recycled up to five times without diminishing of catalytic activity.

Silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) have been finely dispersed at the mesoporous organic polymer via post-synthetic chemical grafting over mesoporous poly-triallylamine (MPTA-1). The resulting Ag-MPTA-1 nanomaterial has been characterized by elemental analysis, powder x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), EPR spectroscopy and AAS elemental analysis. The Ag-MPTA-1 acts as an efficient heterogeneous nanocatalyst in the reduction of substituted nitrobenzenes via transfer hydrogenation. The material also showed excellent catalytic activity in one-step catalytic oxidative esterification of primary alcohols using molecular oxygen as a green oxidant. The catalyst is air-stable, inexpensive, easy to prepare and reused several times without significant decrease in activity and selectivity.

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